Paperthin
by theSardonyx
Summary: There's a paper difference between being brave and being foolish. To Alfred, that difference is Arthur.


**/ Hello again.! Here's an USUK story.! :) /**

PAPERTHIN

I

I ran, adrenaline filling my veins. I didn't dare look back at the creatures chasing us; I feared that we'd get caught if I did. Instead, I kept my eyes trained on Arthur's back, following him as he turned sharply to the left and ducked into an alley. I knew we still wouldn't be safe there; the creatures smell fear, and pained as I am to admit it, I was scared. A dead end is the last thing we'd want to go to.

Running after Arthur, I almost skidded to a stop when I saw a wall at the end of the alley. Arthur, however, wasn't fazed. He simply jumped over the crates lining up the wall and disappeared to the other side.

I could hear the creatures nearing the alley entrance and I wasted no time in vaulting over the wall like Arthur did. I landed on the ground with a loud thud, hurting my ankles but not enough to sprain them. Arthur was sitting a few steps away, face flushed and breathing hard.

"The dogs wouldn't be able to get us here," he said, his voice hoarse. "It's a good thing they aren't smart enough to think of using the crates to jump over the wall like we did."

I snorted. "Don't call them dogs."

"What else did you want me to call them?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "They may have been mutated, but they're still dogs."

"No way, man. The image I have of dogs are the cute friendly ones that we used to have, not those beasts that always snarl and growl and spew saliva everywhere." I complained.

He chuckled lightly before frowning. "They're gone though."

I sighed. He was right. The dogs we loved before were gone. The worldwide nuclear incident made sure of that. It was strange that only dogs were the only ones that mutated, but I suppose it's better than the alternative.

It doesn't make the situation any less bad, though.

"Where to?" Arthur asked. He looked exhausted from all the running, and I knew that he wanted to stay there. But even though we lost the pack of beasts chasing us earlier, we have to move, or other packs would find us.

"We have to find a house to crash," I said. "Do you know where we are?"

"Not really," he replied. "But I think we're near the suburbs. It'd be easy to find empty houses for sure."

I nodded, walking to the alley entrance and glancing around for signs of the creatures. It was deadly quiet, meaning we were safe for a while. Those creatures were always noisy with their growling.

"Do you want to risk walking? There isn't anything in sight," I said, turning to look at Arthur, who shook his head.

He then stood, stepped beside me and poked his head out of the alley, scouting for possible places where we can go to. After a few seconds, he pointed to a another alley. Nodding, I took off, knowing that he was following me.

As we neared our destination, however, sounds of snarling echoed through the gloom, followed by a high pitched scream. Panicked, we hastened our pace and ducked into the alley, poking our heads out to look at the source of the scream.

A girl, about 17, was being chased by the beasts.

"What is she doing out in this time of night?" Arthur hissed.

I laughed at the irony. "We're out too."

"That's not the point," he snapped. "She's alone, she's slow, and she definitely can't defend herself. Plus, she's screaming like there's no tomorrow, possibly alerting every other pack around this place."

"Yeah well, maybe there _is_ no tomorrow for her in this situation," I shrugged. "Unless we help her."

Arthur stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh no, we won't."

"Come on," I insisted. "There are, like, four dumb dogs out there. I can handle them."

He looked at me as if gauging my abilities and I rolled my eyes. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine," he said. "I'll go take care of the girl and you go do whatever with the dogs. Just don't kill yourself."

I smiled brightly at him. "Of course not. You need me to defend you."

"I do not!" he said, glaring daggers at me.

At that, we burst out of the alley and ran towards the girl and the pack of dogs trying to devour her.

I gave one a swift kick to the stomach and sent it crashing towards a fence, but it stood up fast enough. I dodged as another dog lunged at me, and threw a punch at it, sending it towards the one I kicked and both of them stumbled back. The other two dogs growled at me before lunging, mouths wide open to bit me, but I sent a kick at one and crushed its skull under my foot and simply dodged the other.

I heard a scream from behind me and I realized that the dog I just dodged landed in front of Arthur and the girl.

I turned in horror but before I could kick it away, the two dogs I immobilized earlier had gotten up and lunged at me. One I punched in the gut, but the other succeeded in scratching my leg. I heard Arthur shout something, but I couldn't make it out; I was too busy pushing the dogs away.

I kicked at the one that scratched me then sent another punch at the other before sending a barrage of punches at both until I figured that all of their bones were broken. I was about to turn to deal with the other one when it flew by my side, landing a few paces away from me, its jaw almost separated from the head.

"I don't need you to protect me," Arthur said with a smirk when I turned to look at him. I smiled and tried to step towards him, only to fall because of the injury on my leg.

Arthur was by my side in a second, worry etched into his features. "Don't push yourself. Come on, I'll help you up."

"You can come to my house for a while, it's just around the corner," the girl said. "I have a first-aid kit that we can use to treat that wound before it gets infected."

"You don't have to," I said, holding back a wince as I used my injured leg to step forward. Arthur helping me reduced the pain a little, but I couldn't bring myself to put my whole weight on him.

"I insist," the girl responded. "Consider it as a thank you for what you did for me."

"Why were you out here in the first place?" Arthur asked. I sent him a look, but he ignored me.

"I went to the pharmacy to get some medicine for my dad," she said with a sad smile. "I thought they'd still have some there, but the dogs were there when I came and I wasn't able to get some before they saw me and chased me."

Arthur nodded. "What would happen to him now?" he asked quietly.

The girl shrugged. "He's going to die, I guess. There's nothing much I could do now."

She tried to sound nonchalant, but I saw the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. I saw the hopelessness in her eyes too, the sorrow, and grief. But I couldn't tell her that things are going to be fine.

Because in this world, lives are like paper; they crumple and tear so easily.

"Maybe too easily," I whispered to myself, and Arthur and I let the girl lead us in silence.

**/****

*** As seen above, this is set in an AU where a worldwide nuclear disaster caused all dogs to mutate into savage beasts. People at this time are either dead, sick, or in hiding.**

*** I don't know yet if this is going to be the type of story where Alfred and Arthur would somehow save the world, but I probably won't. Don't count on it.**

*** Please review.! :)**

***/**


End file.
